Category: Money in politics
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Meet Abrar Omeish, Exhibit A in the Woke Army
by Asra Q. Nomani Exclusive: In 2019, Abrar Omeish canvassed for support at a fundraiser for the anti-Semitic group American Muslims for Palestine and said she wanted to change the “narrative” on Palestinians. She was elected to office and launched a tirade against the state of Israel, which she smeared as an “apartheid” nation,…
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A New 800-Pound Gorilla in Virginia Politics
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Ivy Main, in a recent commentary in the Virginia Mercury, identified a change in the power dynamic of Virginia politics that is taking place: “Amazon is the new Dominion.” Amazon’s presence in the Commonwealth has grown significantly over the past decade. It has taken place in three areas— distribution facilities, the second…
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New Yorkers, Virginians Will See Your Political Campaign Contributions and Raise You Dick Saslaw
by James C. Sherlock The New York Post was scandalized. In a stunning display of how New York politics work, two of the state Legislature’s most outspoken opponents of charter schools are also among the biggest recipients of campaign cash from New York’s teachers’ union and its political action committee. State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens),…
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Suggestions to Ease Virginia’s Housing Crisis without Additional State Money
by James C. Sherlock The Richmond Times-Dispatch, on cue, wrote in an editorial the other day that more state money was needed to fund local housing. Maybe. But that is not the first place to look. The governor wants to condition development aid to local communities on their reforming land-use policies to permit more construction.…
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Out-of-State Money Floods to Incumbent Democrats in Virginia’s Competitive Congressional Races
by James C. Sherlock I have the utmost respect for political candidates as a class. They are people who put themselves in the arena while most are spectators. The American people I think agree. But by huge margins we decry the amount of money in political campaigns. We deplore the fact that the money required…
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More on Virginia Sheriffs
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This article is a follow-up to Jim McCarthy’s article on sheriffs. My main purpose is to provide some details and more context to the discussion of the position of sheriff in Virginia. The sheriff is a “constitutional officer.” Article VII, Section 4 of the state constitution directs that in each county and…
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New Fed Policy Would Hide CMS Data on Patient Safety Records of Hospitals
by James C. Sherlock One of the most disturbing commentaries I have read in a long time relating to federal efforts to improve hospital patient safety reports a major step backwards in that program. I have written here many times of the power of the hospitals over Virginia’s politics. A proposed new federal rule shows…
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Biden Mounts a Direct Attack on America’s Most Successful Schools for Poor Minority Children
by James C. Sherlock This is pretty cringeworthy, even for the Biden administration. We have new rules for federal funding for new and expanded charter schools that are demonstrably racist. They uniquely disadvantage the poorest minority students because charter schools are proven to help them learn better than any other option. But the rules…
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A Different Tone
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There have been some complaints lately about how the Richmond newspaper should be called the Richmond Times-Dominion, due to its biased coverage in favor of the utility. While I agree with a lot of the criticism about taking a Dominion news release, rewriting it and then publishing it as news, a sentence…
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Democrats Against Due Diligence
by Bill O’Keefe In 2020, as we all know, the Democrat-controlled General Assembly passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) to eliminate fossil energy for electric power generation while simultaneously restricting the regulatory oversight of the State Corporation Commission (SCC). The effect of the legislation was, in effect, a license to pick the pockets of…
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Dominion’s Meddling In Governor’s Race More Despicable than Originally Revealed
by Paul Chesser In October, Bacon’s Rebellion contributor Steve Haner outlined a “despicable act” perpetrated by Dominion Energy on Glenn Youngkin, by sending $200,000 to a mystery PAC created to suppress turnout for the Republican gubernatorial candidate. But now, with further public disclosures, we see the devious actions by Dominion CEO (and former Democrat operative)…
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Bills Reversing Green New Deal Advance, Stutter
by Steve Haner “To say that an electric stove is as good as a gas one is misunderstanding the art of cooking.” That line was used by a restaurant industry lobbyist February 3 in a House of Delegates committee debate on a bill seeking to protect the use of natural gas in Virginia homes and…
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Energy Reform Bills Due for Decisions Soon
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The highest priority on a Virginia energy reform agenda proposed a few weeks ago was restoring State Corporation Commission oversight over decisions on massive renewable energy investments. Under current law, the General Assembly has basically dictated billions of dollars in such…
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First Bill to Amend VCEA Buried by Committee
by Steve Haner The first of several pending bills to slow Virginia’s rush to an expensive energy future based on unreliable electricity just failed in a Republican-controlled committee. There is every reason to expect the same fate for two other pending measures with similar goals. In past years energy bills have gone to a subcommittee,…
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Hands Off My Donations!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia Senators wasted little time killing off an attempt to limit campaign contributions. On its first day of meetings, the Privileges and Elections Committee took up Senator Chap Petersen’s bill to place a $2o,000 cap on campaign contributions (SB 44). Voting to report the bill were five Democrats: Deeds (Bath), Ebbin (Alexandria),…